Comments on: Worthy Tip: Don’t Pay

By: Kelly

Kelly — Tue, 18 May 2010 22:20:57 +0000

I'm on elance now, with the idea that it may help me get additional writing samples together, since I'm starting out and want my name out there. However, what I'm finding is that most clients give their work to the lowest bidder, usually for an extremely low amount ($55 for a 12,000 word ebook?) It's discouraging, and there seems to be no way to make anything resembling a living through these sites. The comments to "go out and get the work yourself" are great in spirit but not especially practical advice. I'm quite frustrated today.

By: Lori

Lori — Sat, 15 May 2010 10:47:50 +0000

Exactly that, Becky. Same for me with Guru – that one client made me pony up the cash. What a waste.

By: becky @ misspriss

becky @ misspriss — Sat, 15 May 2010 04:27:11 +0000

I got a few editing jobs from one client on Guru & decided to pay for a membership. Wish I hadn't - I found nothing else worthwhile.

I looked at elance, but any jobs that I thought *may* be decent would require a membership & a bunch of connections or tokens or whatever they use.

Staying away from all of them as they are a complete waste of time. So frustrating!

By: Lori

Lori — Thu, 13 May 2010 15:24:32 +0000

Allena, I had one like that with Guru, but only one. It lasted about a year and the jobs were irregular. Not worth paying for, I'll tell you!

I agree, Karen. Wow them and convince them their lives are incomplete without you. :)

By: Karen Banes

Karen Banes — Thu, 13 May 2010 14:18:49 +0000

Never used a paid service. My experiences with free job listing sites have left me… Well jobless. Prefer to approach potential clients directly. Only thing that's worked for me so far!

By: allena

allena — Thu, 13 May 2010 13:06:04 +0000

I used Elance early in my career, and hit on one client who paid me about 80/hr for about two years. Now,t hat may be the exception, but I was quite happy with my elance experience!

By: Lori

Lori — Thu, 13 May 2010 11:21:16 +0000

I know I answered you both yesterday, but Blogger was eating responses like candy.

Jen, you're smart about it. Bid on what fits YOU, and bid your rate, not theirs.

Paula, I'm tattooing that on my forehead - Stay above the fray. Excellent advice!

By: Paula

Paula — Wed, 12 May 2010 16:37:20 +0000

I've never joined one of those sites. First, $50 or $75 is a lot of money to me, so I would never spend that without being certain I'd easily recoup the investment. And I just don't see that happening with bidding sites.

Why? Two main reasons:

1) Idiots desperate for work will always under bid the real value of the time and effort any given job requires. Let them have it.

2) There are hundreds if not thousands of other people bidding on or applying for the same job.(Some may even be qualified, too!) So instead of spending my valuable time pitching myself and my services along with thousands of other applicants/bidders, I'd rather seek out potential markets on my own and be one of the only writers they hear from on a given day. (Even when I see a promising publication in a market listing, I'll wait a while before sending a query so it won't be lost in the post-listing onslaught.)

In short: Stay above the fray or you'll be swallowed up by it.

By: Jennifer Williamson

Jennifer Williamson — Wed, 12 May 2010 16:23:27 +0000

I used Elance for about two years, and found two or three clients there who paid fairly well (about middle-of-the-road well, but good for me at the beginning of my career) and who turned out to be ongoing. I still work with one of them.

At the time when I was successful on Elance, I had a policy of only bidding what I felt was fair, regardless of what other writers charged--I refused to play the underbid game. I had good reviews and a solid work history on the site so I could get away with this. I was paying for an elite membership, and this did make a difference because buyers perceived it as a reflection of your quality.

Since then, Elance has changed its fee structure. I got off the site and haven't looked back, and now I'm charging a lot more than I used to charge on the site. Looking back, I think it was an OK way to start off then (I wouldn't recommend it now, with the site's changes). But I do think that staying on it for so long held me back.

By: Wendy

Wendy — Wed, 12 May 2010 15:04:07 +0000

Blogger isn't liking me either. I don't feel like re-typing the whole response, so here's the shorter version.

I've only used Elance, myself. There's nothing like paying for headaches, headaches and more headaches.